FCC levies "NYPD" indecency fine

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - In a sign that the
federal airwaves police may ratchet up their campaign against
racy programming, the FCC on Friday determined that a woman's
naked backside is indecent enough to net ABC a proposed fine of
$1.43 million.

The fine proposal, announced late Friday, comes as much of
the regulatory regime the commission uses to fine stations is
under judicial review.

"Our action today should serve as a reminder to all
broadcasters that Congress and American families continue to be
concerned about protecting children from harmful material and
that the FCC will enforce the laws of the land vigilantly," she
wrote in a statement accompanying the fine notice. "In fact,
pursuant to the Broadcast Decency Act of 2005, Congress
increased the maximum authorized fines tenfold. The law is
simple. If a broadcaster makes the decision to show indecent
programming, it must air between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6
a.m. This is neither difficult to understand nor burdensome to
implement."

In its decision the FCC ruled that the February 25, 2003,
episode of the ABC program "NYPD Blue" in which a nude woman is
surprised by a young boy as she prepares to shower is too much
for primetime broadcast TV.

"We find that the programming at issue is within the scope
of our indecency definition because it depicts sexual organs
and excretory organs -- specifically an adult woman's
buttocks," the FCC wrote. "Although ABC argues, without citing
any authority, that the buttocks are not a sexual organ, we
reject this argument, which runs counter to both case law and
common sense."

The commission levied the maximum fine it could at the time
against ABC. It then multiplied the $27,500 fine by the 52 ABC
stations that aired the episode during Central Standard Time
and Mountain Standard Time.